American Medical Biographies/Porter, Charles Hogeboom
Porter, Charles Hogeboom (1834–1903)
Charles Hogeboom Porter, chemist and medico-legal expert, was born of Dutch and English ancestry at Ghent, Columbus County, New York, November 11, 1834.
His degree in arts was from Yale in 1857, his medical degree from the Albany Medical College in 1861. Settling in Albany, he devoted especial attention to legal medicine, but throughout the Civil War was assistant surgeon of the Sixth New York volunteer heavy artillery.
In 1855–6 he was professor of chemistry at the Vermont Medical College, and from 1859 till 1864 professor of chemistry and medical jurisprudence in the Albany Medical College.
He contributed largely to the literature of medical jurisprudence. Among his more important articles are: "Arsenic in Common Life" (Berkshire Medical Journal, 1856); "Arsenic, and Cases" ("Transactions, Medical Society of New York," 1861); "A Statement of the Case of the People vs. Fere" (Journal of Psychological Medicine, New York, 1870).
Dr. Porter was of medium height and thickly set. His skin was dark, his hair thin and black, and his eyes a deep brown. These eyes were very expressive. A former student of the doctor relates that, once, after a lecture, he went to Dr. Porter to ask him some trivial question, not at all in an earnest way but only to "annoy the professor." Dr. Porter fixed his quiet, steady eyes upon the student, and kept them there for some time without uttering a word. "I slunk away," relates the former student, "most thoroughly ashamed." Dr. Porter was slow and deliberate in speech and action, always weighing his words most carefully. On the witness stand he was admirable, chiefly for the exactness and care of his utterances. He did not have "a host of friends," but to the few he did possess he was just and loyal.
He died after a lingering illness at Canandaigua, New York, November 21, 1903.